The Phillies Zone

It's chilly but the tarp is off the field for the Phillies' series opener against the Mets. Cole Hamels makes his debut in Game 4 against Chris Young, the lanky flyball pitcher who has given the Phillies fits before. But this isn't exactly the greatest ballpark for his Mets debut.

News is slow. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. contradicted a Foxsports.com report claiming Chase Utley could start jogging "in the next couple of days" on his chronically pained right knee. Of course, those words are said to have come from Amaro's mouth, but the GM said at the ballpark that there is no timetable for jogging to happen.

"He’s made some progress, but it’s slow," Amaro said. "And it will continue to be slow. Even if he gets to the point where he starts to be able to run or jog or whatever, that doesn’t mean he’s going to jump forward all of a sudden and be in a rehab [game]. That may take some time, too. There’s a difference between jogging around and running 100 percent. It’s all kind of a progression."

I've never heard of this "jogging," but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild.

The second baseman has made noticeable progress taking grounders, with more lateral movement by the day. But it's clear he's still far away -- like we've said all along.